


Hit Then Kiss

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Marauders' Era, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-19
Updated: 2006-11-19
Packaged: 2019-01-19 11:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12409467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: Why is Lily hitting James? And what's James going to do about it?





	Hit Then Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

Hit Then Kiss

 

First, she wacked me on the arm and then, she kissed me. Not quite as romantic as I had planned but that’s Lily Evans for you. Unpredictable. I know this is going to sound extremely schmaltzy (Sirius would barf) but her unpredictability is one of the reasons I love her so much. She’s just so... spontaneous. That’s the word. The word that I heard–sorry. Wait, don’t leave yet, let me explain. You see, I was just watching this _interesting_ musical Lily used to be obsessed with as a child. It’s called _Grease_ , and now I have that song stuck in my head. You know, when this guy with slicked back hair starts singing, " _Grease is the word that I heard_..." blah blah blah. It was mad. Lily was singing along with it and everything. She even knew the hand movements to this thing called a ‘hand jive’. I’m not exactly sure that the ‘hand jive’ is as clean as one might think. It seemed rather randy to me. Some of the gestures they were making... let me just say, I would never even dream of gesturing like that in front of a bird like Lily. Those blokes across the pond sure are bold. 

Anyway, where was I and what was I talking about? Oh, right, the reason Lily decided to hit me. She had done it before, don’t tell anyone. Even the lads don’t know about the first time Lily hit me. It wasn’t a public thing and don’t look at me like that, I wouldn’t brag to anyone, especially my mates, that Lily could hand me my head on a platter. It was enough that I had to suffer her verbal lashings in front of my peers, I wasn’t going to let word leak out that she had decked me as well. She’s not a vicious girl, it was an accident the first time, I think, but I had a shiner for almost two days after her bag came soaring at me. 

Fine, I’ll tell you about the first time she tried to finish me but then I’m telling you the good part, the second hit and the first kiss. 

 

~*~

The story begins with our dear Ms. Lily having a bit of difficulty with the banishing charm Flitwick taught us fifth year. I know, don’t die from shock, Lily Evans could not do a charm (In case you don’t know why this is shocking, Lily received the highest N.E.W.T. in Charms since Flitwick himself, she could have literally taken his job once she graduated). Anyway, I was walking through the hallways late at night, after curfew, and I saw light coming from one of the empty classrooms. So, being the curious little bugger I was, I decided to see what was going on. Little did I know, I was about to get the wind knocked out of me and a black-eye for being so very curious. 

The first thing she said to me after her bag smacked me was, "What are you doing out after curfew?" But not in a polite, quiet way. She glared at me as if I deserved the black eye I could already feel swelling. 

"I saw a light coming from–"

"All the way from Gryffindor tower?" She asked, incredulously. 

Clearly there was a flaw in my slight fabrication. I decided to play dumb for a little while to buy myself some time while I tried to think of a better answer to her original question. 

"Of course not, I was walking and I saw it."

Finally, she reached out a hand and helped me up from my pretty pathetic position on the floor. 

"Why were you out after curfew?" She tried again.

"Oh, no reason," I replied, smoothly, while running a hand through my hair.

I can’t help it, you know, running my hand through my hair, it’s this nervous tick I have. Lily hates it but she’s the only one who ever makes me nervous enough to do it. She actually thinks I’m trying to impress her when I do it. She’s completely off her rocker.

I touched my eye gingerly, trying to feel how much damage her bag had done and she winced. "That bad, huh?"

She nodded apologetically but never actually said she was sorry, now that I think about it. 

"What’d you hit me for?"

I’ll admit, I was getting a bit angry. Her constant wincing as she looked at my eye. The sharp pain I felt whenever I gently touched it. I knew that this one was going to hurt for awhile, especially since I’d had my glasses on. The frames had slammed into my eyebrow. I was lucky I wasn’t bleeding, that’s how hard she’d hit me. 

"I didn’t do it on purpose," she huffed, brushing her hair angrily out of her eyes. 

I tried to glare but it hurt my swelling eye so, I fear, I did not look quite as menacing as I had wished.

"I was practicing banishing charms, if you must know," she said, folding her arms in front of her defensively. 

Of course that caught my attention. Lily practicing Charms was like me practicing Transfiguration. We didn’t need to. At all. 

She must have noticed my surprised expression because she pointed her finger at me and glared, "Not a word." 

"What do you take me for?" I asked. 

"I’m not going to tell anyone. I could even help you if you like."

"No." She said, shaking her head slowly while staring at me.

"You should go to see Madame Pomfrey, she’d get rid of the pain in a second." 

Her sudden kindness must have startled me because, of course, the next moment I offended her.

"A mere kiss from your luscious lips would stop the pain in less then a second," I countered flirtatiously, running my hand through my hair again. 

Cursed mouth and cursed nervous habits. She was always doing that, startling me, being spontaneous, making me so bloody nervous. 

She scoffed, yanked her bag from up off the floor and began stalking away. 

"In your dreams, Potter," she called without looking back. 

Too right she was. 

~*~

Anyway, that was the first time she’d hit me. Now, onto the good part, the second time. It was the middle of sixth year and Lily and the other prefects were planning a going away party for the seventh years. No one, not even Remus, would tell me what they were planning. It was maddening, how could they keep such a large event secret? 

We’ve already established that I’m too curious for my own good so, of course, I wanted to find out what the prefects were planning. I decided to try and get the information out of Lily. How? I wasn’t sure but for some strange reason I thought it would work. 

I wanted to get Lily alone so that there would be less of a chance of her getting too angry with me. You see, by that time I had figured out that one of the main reasons Lily always rejected my dates was because I always wound up asking her in front of everyone and she thought I was making fun of her or something. Once again, me, the thick one? I think not. 

Anyway, Lily’s best friend, Maureen, told me that my dear Ms. Evans was in the library looking up some spells for the party. Perfect, or so I thought. Once I entered the library I realized that Lily was not as alone as I had thought she would be. Oh no, in fact she was with her _friend,_ Frank Longbottom, a seventh year prefect. He was normally a nice kind of bloke but suddenly I wasn’t feeling quite as friendly towards him. Where was Alice, his girlfriend? And why was he alone with Lily, in a dark, secluded, quiet corner of the library?

"Did you find the confetti spell?" Lily asked Frank as I crept down the aisle next to them. 

"Not yet, Lily," he replied, sounding a bit tired. 

I saw Lily turn toward him and even from between the books I could see the haggard look Frank was wearing. Poor guy, I remember his father went missing that week.

"Oh, I’m sorry Frank. I know you have a date with Alice soon, why don’t you go get ready for that. I’ll continue looking," she told him, laying a hand on his shoulder. 

I felt myself wince a little even though no one could see me, of course Lily knew Frank and Alice were dating. Why would I ever suspect Lily and Frank were hiding a secret relationship. Lily was Alice’s friend. I can be such a prat sometimes. The library wasn’t even dark, the lights were a bit blinding, to tell you the truth. 

I could see him look up at her apologetically. "No, I’ll help still– "

"You’ll do no such thing, Frank Longbottom. You are marching yourself back to that tower and making yourself look presentable for my friend, Alice," Lily grinned, playfully. 

Her grin broke my heart a little. I know, I sound a bit morose and sappy but her smile was like a ‘Lumos’ in the dark. Ask anybody, even Sirius saw it. I always wished she would grin at me like that. Her eyes would light up and her smile seemed to freeze the world whenever I caught a glimpse of it. Let me tell you, from experience, it feels nice being on the receiving end of a smile like that. 

Frank began collecting his books while getting ready to leave when, suddenly, he looked up, catching me off guard. At that point, I wasn’t quite sure if he’d seen me through the books but then he began to frown and I knew. 

I know what you’re thinking, a marauder being discovered whilst hiding, I’m an utter disgrace. 

"Lily...," he began.

I gestured wildly, praying he wouldn’t alert her to my presence. 

‘Please,’ I mouthed, begging him not to reveal me. 

He pursed his lips as if angry at himself and turned back to Lily, "Never mind."

She nodded slowly, a bit suspiciously if you ask me, but let him leave without another word.

As Frank passed my aisle I smiled sheepishly and he winked which surprised me because he always seemed to dislike my pursuits of Lily. A lot. 

I braced myself, deciding to let the Gryffindor courage hidden within me lead my feet to wherever they were destined to go. I began walking out of my aisle toward the fiery red-head but stopped right as I was about to turn the bend.

‘Come on, Potter. Are you a Gryffindor or a Puff?’ I asked myself, trying once again to work up the courage needed to survive an encounter with her.

Her back was turned to me and she was leaning over one of the books she had propped open, flipping through the pages.

"Er– " I cleared my throat, "Lily?"

She had whipped around as soon as I said "Er" and was now staring quite dangerously at me. And not the good dangerous either. 

I giggled nervously and my hand flew up to my hair but I caught myself before I began any ruffling. She quirked an eyebrow in my direction and I realized I’d just giggled. I could feel the heat flying up my neck. How bleeding worse could it get? A whole lot, a whole entire lot. 

"What do you want, Potter?" She asked, bored, already, of my presence. 

"Er– I was just wondering..." 

And suddenly, my mind had gone blank. What was I just wondering and why was I standing there, in front of Lily Evans, blushing like a common school girl? 

"Spit it out, Potter. What do you want?" 

Her angry question seemed to awaken me from my temporary lapse into the confused world and I remembered that I was being curious and that I needed to find out what the going away party would be like.

"I was just wondering... could I help with the going away party for the Seventh years?" 

Sometimes I surprise even myself with my genius. Of course, the best way to learn what was happening would be to help plan it.

"You want to help?" Lily asked, staring at me again, as if I had more than one head or something.. 

"Yes," I said, slowly, making sure she understood.

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

Hm, which would be more advantageous in this situation, lying or being honest? 

"Well, you see, I want to know what’s going to happen at the party. So, I figured, the best way to find out would be to help."

She stared at me, again. 

Oi! Do I NEVER do anything helpful or something?! Do you know how many times she’d stared at me by that point? Do you?

"Contrary to popular belief, I can, more often than not, be helpful," I snapped.

"Well don’t get your knickers into such a twist, Potter. I was merely surprised, that’s all. _You_ see, I was sure that Remus would have told you that the planning for this party is going to be strictly Prefects Only. I’m sure you could ask Edmund and see if he’d let you help, seeing as you’re so eager," she said, loftily. 

Damn straight I’d be asking Edmund (who, by the way, happened to be Head Boy. He also happened to reside in Gryffindor and liked Quidditch). If she thought for one moment that she was so high and mighty, well, she’d sure be surprised, when I showed up with confetti flowing from my fingertips.

I was about to turn and storm away (dramatic flare equals pity points for Potter) when this crazy girl from Gryffindor named Elise sauntered over to me. She was... odd, to say the least. She always seemed to be around and she always asked me, in front of a large crowd, why I never treated her "like a real girlfriend?" in this annoyingly nasal, whiny, tone. "Maybe," I used to tell her, "because you are NOT my ‘real girlfriend.’ You aren’t even my fake one." That would shut her up, but only for a couple of hours.

"Jimmy!" 

That single word coming out of that single mouth made me want to rip out every single strand of my messy, black hair and throw it at the Giant Squid. 

"What are you doing hanging around _people_ like her?" Elise whined, glaring at Lily.

Lily glared back at the girl so fiercely that, for a moment, I thought she would explode. I went to hold her back, afraid she might attack Elise, when she jumped dropping her book and looking startled as if I’d burned her or something.

"Don’t you dare touch me, Potter. I will cut off your hand so quickly that even your brain won’t realize you no longer have a hand until the blood has soaked through to your Quidditch boxers and dyed them red." 

Woah, hostile, right? At first I couldn’t understand what I had done but then I realized, Lily was jealous and, alright, maybe a little angry considering what Elise had said. But she was jealous! 

"Don’t talk to my boyfriend like that," Elise snarled. 

I thought it appropriate to remind Elise that we were not and never would be boyfriend and girlfriend. I’m not quite sure why I thought that an appropriate time but in the long run it seemed to work in my favor. Lily, after all, looked quite smugly at Elise before attempting to shoo her away. 

"Run along now, Elise. We were having a _mature_ conversation before you interrupted," Lily gleefully announced.

I glanced at Lily, a little surprised, and she shrugged before returning her attention to Elise. 

"Why, you little–" 

"Oi! Elise, do you want me to report you to McGonagall? Leave." I barked, outraged.

How dare she attempt to insult Lily in front of me. Did she have a single brain cell in that mad head of hers?

Apparently not, because the next thing I knew she had pulled out her wand and pointed it at Lily. 

"What do you think you’re doing?" I snarled, moving to stand in front of Lily. 

"Get out of the way, Jimmy, that mudblood needs to be taught a lesson."

The girl was practically foaming at the mouth. She should have been rushed off to the Psycho ward at St. Mungo’s. She was absolutely nutters. 

I carefully eased my wand out of my cloak and pointed it at Elise. "Lower your wand," I commanded. I can be quite intimidating, you know. 

"Jimmy," she whined, "move out of the way, it’s not you I’m trying to hex," she said, reaching out to pat my cheek.

I dodged and realized that I had suddenly, and stupidly, left Lily exposed. Elise began to say a curse but I was too fast for her. Before the first syllable even escaped her lips I had stunned her. 

It was at that moment that my life, as I knew it, changed. Lily stared at Elise for a moment and then, quite unexpectedly, hit me, quite hard, on the arm. 

"Ow," I complained, rubbing my suddenly sore arm. 

"What’d you do that for?" I asked. 

"You idiot! You just cursed a fellow Gryffindor in the library!" And she hit me again.

"Ow. Lily, stop that!" I whined. "It’s no big deal, I was protecting you."

Lily scoffed and held up a hand, "believe me I could have had a handle on that situation a lot sooner had you not began ‘protecting me.’"

"Oh, come on. She’s crazy. You don’t know what she would’ve done. I was right in helping you," I insisted as we both bent down to get the Charms book Lily had dropped earlier. 

I suppose my dear Lily didn’t realize that I was also bending down to grab her book because the next thing I knew she had rocketed up from her crouched position and smacked the top of her head against my entire face but mostly my nose. Hard. 

"Ow."

She abruptly dropped the book and put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, James. I’m so sorry."

It felt like my nose was bleeding so I tilted my head back and pinched the bridge of it. 

"Is your head alright?" I asked, nasally. 

This question seemed to make Lily even more anxious because she wrung her hands and asked me quite worriedly, "Is your nose bleeding? Here, wait. I’ll get you a tissue."

She began to turn and fetch one until I tapped her on the shoulder, "Do you think you could just conjure one for me?"

"Oh, yes. Right, of course I can."

She was getting a bit flustered as I watched her, "Are you sure you’re all right?" she asked me, again.

"Yes, I’m fine. It’s OK, I’m used to this kind of thing from Quidditch, what with the Bludgers and all."

She nodded and I fell silent. Lily was behaving oddly, did you see how flustered she was getting? And she forgot all about my tissue. 

I conjured one and she sighed, rubbing the top of her head.

"I’m sorry, I was supposed to do that, wasn’t I?" she asked.

I grinned at her reassuringly as I held the tissue against my nose. Realizing there was no runny nose feeling and that it was just a little sore, I crumpled the tissue and set it on fire. It’s ashes littered our feet and I remembered that I had once again done magic in the library. I quickly looked back to Lily, awaiting a reprimand. I saw her mouth begin to quirk and I realized she was holding back a smile. Then, she utterly surprised, shocked, and awed me. She walked up to me. She was so close that I could see the dark green flecks immersed in the sea of emerald that was her eyes. For a moment, I was afraid she was going to go banshee on me but then I saw she was smiling, that dazzling smile that left my knees weak.

"Lily," I breathed but she held up a finger against my lips. 

"Not yet, Potter. I still have to reward the valiant knight for protecting me," she drawled, playfully.

I gulped in a breath of air and noticed that a hot sweat had broken out across my back. Merlin, the library was stifling at this time of year. How anyone could work in these conditions was beyond me. My palms were getting quite sweaty, ‘I hope she doesn’t reach for my hand’ I suddenly thought. The room began to spin so I anchored myself by grabbing onto Lily’s shoulder. 

Next thing I knew, she was coming closer. We were standing chest to chest, the little space between us gone. The room kept spinning and I wondered if it was because she was so close to me. She was smiling, rather seductively, I might add and then she leaned toward me, standing on her tip toes, and kis–I passed out. Seriously. Right there. I fainted. See, that is how worse it could get.

It turns out that no, the library was not hot due to the June weather, I was just suffering from a minor concussion due to my head being clobbered by Lily Evans. Merlin! What a time to black out. Would she kiss me again? Would she even want to? She probably thought I was the worst kind of nancy boy in the entire Wizarding world after that little scene. I couldn’t even handle getting whacked about she had obviously felt the impact just as hard. Why did _my_ body feel the need to pass out? When I roused myself from my self-deprecating thoughts I realized, with a start, that I was in the infirmary. White sheets, white ceiling, and the smell of cleanliness mixed with the slightest taint of medicine can only mean just that. 

I sat up and discovered that I had a bit of a headache, must have been from the thumping I received right before Lily tried to– Lily kissed me. And I fainted. I know, Cursed Merlin and all the stupid things I’ve ever done that has got to be one of the worst. But my embarrassment does not change the one simple fact that Lily Evans kissed me, James Potter.

I sat up, rigid with excitement, ready to shout from the tallest tower that I, James Potter was kissed by one, Lily Evans. I looked around the fairly large Hospital Wing. Sirius, Remus, and Pete were on my left and Lily was on my right. Yep, you heard right, Lily Evans was sitting next to me. Lily had stayed with me in the Hospital Wing. Lily liked me. She had kissed me and even though I fainted like a nancy boy she’d stayed with me. She was even holding my hand, I realized, when I felt a little tingling feeling against my palm. 

She loved me, I knew it, how could she not? She won’t know she loves me for a couple of months, I’m sure. But it doesn’t matter because I know and I realized, then, that I loved her as well but I wouldn’t tell her right away. After all, she had just thumped me so hard I wound up in the Hospital Wing and I don’t want that happening again any time soon. 

 

The End. 


End file.
